BBC4 program: Prog Rock Brittania

I thought it was excellent. As well as the 90 minute doc, there was the 'Prog at the Beeb' programme which had some great performance footage of bands at the top of their game in the early 70s, most of which I hadn't seen before. Loved the '71 Old Grey Whistle Test clip of Wishbone Ash doing Vas Dis. Also Caravan (The Dog, The Dog, He's At It Again), Atomic Rooster and Tull on Top of the Pops, Yes (Yours is No Disgrace) and ELP doing an ultra-aggressive version of Pictures from (I think) '73.

Genesis didn't come off too well with their dull pop song (I Know What I Like). Plus there was a comical clip of King Crimson from the 80s with Belew wearing a pink suit. and Fripp in a suit too. Bunch of yuppies! They looked like they'd be more interested in selling you insurance than playing prog.

As Dick H said the documentary was refreshingly Peel and Shaar Murray-free and treated prog as being as vaild as any other musical form. So thankfully no "God wasn't it all ridiculous, how did we ever listen to this stuff?" just plenty of entertaining and self-effacing reminiscences from Bruford, Wyatt, Palmer, Wakeman etc.

One interesting thought it came up with was that though the bands used rock as a starting point, they had moved away from producing what was traditionally thought of as 'rock' into something way more esoteric that might have been considered as a seperate form. So to accuse them of betraying rock, which was top of the music journo/punk rap sheet, was a bit daft really. The early and mid-70s was a unique era when some pretty 'out there' music briefly achieved mass acceptance. Wonder if a set of circumstances will ever occur to let this happen again?

I know Pink Floyd has been well documented in lots of documentaries, but it would have been so nice if BBC 4 could have included the Peter Clifton film, either Careful with that axe, Eugene or Set the Controls, one of these tracks would have been suffice for the hour of prog that followed the Prog Britannia programme.  I notice that Sky Arts 1 is competing with BBC 4 at the moment, as they to are showing great prog stuff, when i switched over from the Prog Britannia, Sky Arts 1 was showing Classic Albums: Deep Purple: Machine Head, and it struck that aswell as Purple being a heavy rock band, my brother always referred to them as a form of progressive rock, you can hear this on Highway Star, the interplay between John Lord and Ritchie Blackmore.  Also I felt that Prog Brittannia sort of belittled the prog around the end of the programme, saying it was too soft.  I felt the Channel 4 programme 'Top Ten' covered a few other genres of prog, namely Hawkwind who could rock like the punks, who apparently killed prog, I felt when EGG was covered, where was the mention of Gong guitarist Steve Hillage, much less, Gong.  I think we should have a prog rock tv channel, there's loads of stuff out there.  

Saw it again last night on BBC 4, not changing a word I wrote above. Excellent just the right amount of tongue-in-check.

Just back into the office today first time since Christmas and all the younger rock fans telling how much they liked the programme. One telling me he's order ICOTCK not knowing Crimson before. Which reminded me that the  Channel 4 top 10 prog programme also created interest several years ago, with a local record shop telling me at the time that they sold more prog-related albums that week than they had in two years previously. In other words expose potential fans to the music, and the music is likely to do the selling - rather than being put off  by morons (aka pundits)  verbally abusing the genre

Edited by Dick Heath - January 08 2009 at 14:16

Fripp's own impressions here:

http://www.dgmlive.com/diaries.htm?entry=13113




Edited by Swan Song - January 11 2009 at 05:14

well Im very greatful for the promotion-certainly of Egg! as we have their catalogue.

Oh dear! After the good work with Prog Rock Britannia, somebody let Paul Morley loose rabbiting on about fashion in rock. Caught the show All The Young Dudes, last night  at the point of him interviewing Noddy Holder and then Ian Anderson (looking right dapper-like). Then the b*****d has yet another moan about prog - turned over to the footie. The man is dull, his ideas are less than dull, (why do people find him interesting toput him on TV?): get him off  the box. These guys dressed liked they did because it is a form of theatre, whilst some reflect current youth culture -didn't you understand the former  from Anderson?!

(Just reminded who Morley reminds me of: the way I draw the "wot me worry" character).

Witchseason wrote: I, too, thought the long programme was excellent (only got round to watching it last night) a nd the short one was poor. Was hoping to see better footage than that of Family & Caravan especially. Coughlan was great on the 90min doc - what a criminally under-rated drummer he's always been - and everyone concerned was witty & informative. Made me reet nostalgic.   One question - during the Wilde Flowers / Soft Machine section there was a clip of music I didn't recognise - Robert W singing "I like me, I like you, and the things that we do". Admittedly it's a while since I played all their stuff, but still it rang no bells at all.   Can someone enlighten me as to what it was?   Also, what was the full lineup on the Tubular Bells prog? I thought I recognised Mick Taylor & Steve Hillage, but who else was there?   Cheers   Jerry   PS - check out the vinyl rips at my blog /admin edit - link removed http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13083

Here you go:

30/11/1973, Mike Oldfield, BBC TV Studios, Shepherds Bush (Second House BBC Performance).

1. Tubular Bells (Part 1)

John Field - flute

Fred Frith - bass, guitar

John Greaves - keyboards

Steve Hillage - guitar

Tim Hodgkinson - keyboards

Karl Jenkins - oboe

Geoff Leigh - flute

Pierre Moerlen - percussion

Mike Oldfield - bass, guitar

Terry Oldfield - flute

Mike Ratledge - keyboards

Mick Taylor - guitar

Ted Speight - guitar, bass

Tom Newman - voice

+ Choir

James wrote: Here you go: 30/11/1973, Mike Oldfield, BBC TV Studios, Shepherds Bush (Second House BBC Performance). 1. Tubular Bells (Part 1) John Field - flute Fred Frith - bass, guitar John Greaves - keyboards Steve Hillage - guitar Tim Hodgkinson - keyboards Karl Jenkins - oboe Geoff Leigh - flute Pierre Moerlen - percussion Mike Oldfield - bass, guitar Terry Oldfield - flute Mike Ratledge - keyboards Mick Taylor - guitar Ted Speight - guitar, bass Tom Newman - voice + Choir

Wow